Cool Hunting

Los Angeles-based glass artist Alison Berger creates glass forms that transform mere lights, vessels and objects into timeless poetic expressions. Her recent collection of bottle-shaped vessels for the L.A. design mecca, Blackman Cruz, is an exercise in balance.

Combining the lightness of blown-crystal with the weightiness of hand-formed solid crystal, the objects allude to the momentous developments in alchemy and still life painting centuries ago.

Some of the pieces within the collection have historical references, while others merely allude to the passage of time. Flask 804 is etched with DaVinci’s writings on the nature of water; Bottle 806 has faded numbers etched on its surface as if they were part of an old label; and Bottle 808 has a buffed-acid finish that replicates the atmospheric effect of condensation.

A couple of the vessels, which Alison dubs “purchase at your own risk” pieces, Beakers 801 and 802, have a solid sphere of crystal at the base and can't be placed in direct sunlight because the light refraction can be strong enough to ignite a flame.

Berger's collection is available exclusively at Blackman Cruz, with prices ranging between $2,100 and $2,300 each.